The decision on Patrick Bamford’s future for next season is arguably one of the toughest decisions Jose Mourinho will make this summer, and he hasn’t been helped with some reports suggesting the 20-year-old is ready for a spot in the Chelsea first-team or a Premier League loan.

In order to assess Patrick Bamford’s capability for next season, Mourinho would be best served to look past the strikers goals and focus more on his all round play which, according to Derby fans, needed huge improvement before he should look for a Premier League move.

At the Rams, he scored eight goals in 14 starts and nine sub appearances which, purely based on the numbers, is a very impressive record and suggests he was one of the most dangerous strikers in the division. However, when you delve a little further into his time at Derby, he began to earn the label as a luxury player that could grab a goal out of nowhere, yet spend the rest of the game picking himself off the floor and losing the ball.

An example of this was Derby County’s away game at Sheffield Wednesday, a game in which he scored the winner, but to the frustrations of supporters arguably had his worst game in a Derby County shirt.

Bamford is bot currently ready for the Premier League, and a stint at a Premier League club could do more harm than good, especially if he is to continue passing himself off as a number nine.

At Derby, he was played on the wide-right of an attacking three which suited his talents. Although he is tactically smart and possesses an incredible first-touch, he is by no means capable of matching defenders physically one-on-one and is much better when he has space between him and the defender in order to turn and run at them.

Another Championship move should be on the cards for Bamford next season, whether that is with Derby or someone else remains to be seen, but he really does need to establish himself in the English second-tier over a 46-game season before thinking about the Premier League’s bright lights and expectations that come with it.